What to do if you have severe cough due to heart failure

If a patient with heart failure develops a severe cough, it is quite serious, especially in the autumn and winter seasons when the weather is relatively cold. Patients are susceptible to external cold invasion, leading to symptoms of cough and cold. At this time, the body's blood vessels are prone to contraction and spasm, which is very harmful to patients with heart failure. At this time, active treatment must be carried out, and adequate rest and emphasis should be placed on nourishment.

What to do if you have severe cough due to heart failure

Patients with left heart failure may initially only have frequent dry coughs. The cough symptoms of heart failure are similar to respiratory symptoms. Many people think it is just a chronic lung disease, and it may be misdiagnosed as bronchitis or asthma attacks. In fact, the cough caused by heart failure and the cough caused by asthma are closely related to body position. The symptoms worsen when lying down and alleviated when sitting (standing). However, the cough and asthma caused by chronic bronchitis or asthma have nothing to do with changes in body position. When heart failure is more severe, it is usually accompanied by paroxysmal coughing, and symptoms such as coughing with sputum when lying down to sleep, but being more comfortable when sitting upright. Some patients will cough up foamy or pink sputum. If this kind of persistent coughing occurs, it must be taken seriously and the patient must be closely monitored to prevent further development of heart failure.

(1) Take rest:

Except for patients with more severe heart failure who need to rest in bed, patients with mild to moderate chronic heart failure should do appropriate exercise, such as walking. It helps patients to promote blood circulation. People who walk regularly have a 21% lower risk of heart failure.

(2) Control your emotions:

Mental relaxation is good for your body. Extreme joy or sorrow will only aggravate heart failure, so you must learn to control your emotions.

(3) Limit sodium intake:

In heart failure, edema occurs in patients due to venous and microvascular congestion, increased extracellular fluid and sodium retention. Therefore, it is important to appropriately limit sodium intake.

（4）Weight loss:

Losing weight can effectively reduce the workload on the heart and alleviate heart failure. It is understood that the risk of heart failure in obese men and obese women increases by 75% and 106% respectively; being overweight increases the risk of heart failure in men and women by 15% and 21% respectively.

（5）Control hypertension:

Hypertension is an important factor in the development of heart failure. To prevent and treat heart failure, blood pressure must be controlled.

Patients with heart failure should pay more attention to rest, but they should not stay in bed for a long time. After suffering from heart failure, blood circulation slows down and is prone to clots, so it is very beneficial to do some leg relaxation and contraction exercises frequently. Follow your doctor's advice on diet and avoid eating too salty food. When heart failure induces dry cough symptoms, the main treatment is to treat the heart failure, because once the heart failure is relieved, the cough will naturally go away. Patients with heart failure generally have poor immunity, and severe upper respiratory tract infections may cause sepsis and pneumonia, so active anti-inflammatory measures are very necessary.